Welcome to our new graduate students
On behalf of the faculty and staff in the Department of Environmental Sciences, I am pleased to extend a warm welcome to our new graduate students. Until now you have acquired much knowledge, logical thinking and life experience through a long education and social activities however this does not necessarily mean you make effective use of them. Pursuing programs in Sustainable Environmental Studies/Environmental Sciences enables you to acquire skills to make good use of the knowledge and experience. Throughout the master/doctoral thesis process you are expected to acquire abilities to see yourself objectively and to learn independently and through this you will be transformed into a professional. In the real world environmental problems are very complex. In our department, we set existing environmental problems as your research priority. This will help you to learn practical expertise necessary in society. By the time you complete this program, you will become an asset to society as an environmental actor, a person who can take an active part as an environmental communicator and /or manager at home and abroad.
Two or three years sounds like a long time, but it goes quickly. You should act without losing sight of your purpose, otherwise you will be pressed for time towards the end and in completing our program. We still have aftershocks from the massive earthquake on March 11th, and it will take a long time before the areas affected will be restored their former state. Furthermore, the nuclear accident in Fukushima and its effects may be prolonged or take time to be stabilised. If you think about it, these events are all included in our research theme. Not only the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident but also the more complicated issues arisen from them might contribute to our research targets. Your campus life might be tougher than you expect. On the other hand, you can take advantage of these situations, by turning them into subjects of research. There is no success without hardships. We can turn our hardships into wisdom. We believe that the hardships you encounter mature you as a person. All faculty and staff members strongly hope for the success of your research project and that you enjoy campus life.
Dr. YAMAJI Keiko, Master’s program chair
Dr. UCHIDA Taro, Doctoral program chair